Unsolicited manuscripts of novels and poetry by unpublished and unknown authors, submitted "over the transom," which publishers get by the hundreds and thousands, may get a reading just in case lightning has struck, but almost never by the publisher's own editor himself. There simply is not time for this in addition to reading manuscripts submitted by agents, which get serious attention because they've passed scrutiny by a professional with a stake in the book's success, and editing manuscripts that have been accepted for publication. Maxwell Perkins spent years carving a novel out of the immense mass of verbiage that was Thomas Wolfe's manuscript of what was eventually titled "Look Homeward, Angel."

So what happens? Unsolicited material is sent to outside readers who are paid a pittance for their written reports and recommendations. If a reader strongly recommends publication, the editor will probably read at least some of the manuscript - and if the reader's enthusiasm has been unjustified and the editor's time wasted, that reader isn't going to read for that publisher any more. Otherwise, the editor will sign a rejection letter to the author, having in some cases actually composed it himself and in others having left it to his secretary using the reader's report. End of story where that manuscript and that publisher is concerned.

Frustrated authors who get their kicks from setting traps for editors are wasting everybody's time, the editor's and their own. Editors and publishers aren't judged by the books they don't publish but by the books they do.

If you read my message you will see who unsolicited manuscripts were actually read by and how they are handled. I worked in book publishing, I was an editor myself (though not of trade books), and I know.